Cloudburst 1990

Arthur Lawrence Werger made this print, "Cloudburst," and it captures a rainy day scene with people walking under umbrellas. Imagine Werger working on the plate, the concentration it would have taken to create all those tiny lines, which together create the impression of wet city streets. It’s an evocative scene, and I love the way the artist has played with light and shadow. The figures are dark and silhouetted against the grey city. But it's the reflection that really makes this image sing. See how the wet pavement mirrors the world above, distorting it. The soft, blurred reflections, echo the figures, creating a sense of movement and unease. It is a bit like that trick of inverting a photo to see if it still works: this print still works upside down too. Printmaking has its own way of talking, like painting. Each artist makes their own choices, and these choices speak to us. Werger’s decisions have turned this everyday scene into something magical.